Resistor with side wall contact

ABSTRACT

A resistor located above the semiconductive substrate of an integrated circuit chip can be made smaller than prior art resistors because no area is allocated for resistor contacts. During manufacture, a resistive strip having the width of the intended resistor is formed. A photoresist mask protects the top and sides of the resistive strip where the resistor is located, and etching exposes the ends but not the top and sides of the resistor. Contact to the resistor occurs at the upwardly extending (usually near vertical) end surfaces of the resistor.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to integrated circuit structures, in particularto forming a resistor above a semiconductor substrate.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There is a persistent goal in the semiconductor industry to reduce thesize of structural elements within an integrated circuit chip. In staticmemory cells, for example, resistors rather than transistors arefrequently used as load elements in order to avoid requiring that morecircuit elements be placed in the semiconductive substrate. The resistormay be located above other active elements in the substrate andtherefore the static memory cell can occupy less total space. However,resistors themselves may occupy more area than desired because a typicalresistor requires a contact area to connect other elements to theresistor, and this contact area also occupies space that could be usedfor other elements. It is beneficial to reduce the space occupied by thecontact area.

Also, since successive layers in an integrated circuit structure arepatterned using separate masks, space must be allocated for misalignmentof one mask with respect to the next. A process which reduces the spaceneeded for misalignment or for forming the contacts reduces the totalspace which must be used for a circuit element. This in turn increasesthe speed with which an integrated circuit can operate and the number ofelements which can be located in an integrated circuit of a given size.

FIGS. 1.1a through 1.7b show top and side views respectively of stepsand the resulting structure of a prior art resistor 13r. FIGS. 1.1bthrough 1.7b are cross-sectional side views of FIGS. 1.1a through 1.7arespectively, taken along the line A--A. The same reference numeralsindicate the same elements in successive figures. As shown in FIG. 1.1b,onto a substrate 11 is formed structure 12, which may comprise an oxidelayer, an oxide layer covered by a nitride layer, or may comprise a morecomplex structure including more than one layer of oxide,polycrystalline silicon and other materials. The top portion of layer12, however, is an insulator. To form a resistor, onto layer 12 isapplied a highly resistive material, for example, undoped or lightlydoped polycrystalline silicon layer 13, as shown in FIGS. 1.1a and 1.1b,typically 1000-5000Å thick.

As shown in FIGS. 1.2a and 1.2b, layer 13 is patterned to form astructure 13p which will comprise both a resistor and its conductivecontact regions. As shown in FIGS. 1.3a and 1.3b, a protective layer 14which may be of insulating material, including oxide or oxide andnitride, or, alternatively photoresist, is formed on the surface of thestructure, contacting resistive structure 13p and exposed portions oflayer 12. Layer 14 is patterned, as shown in FIGS. 1.4a and 1.4b, toform mask 14p, exposing resistive structure 13p except at a locationbeneath part of mask 14p which will remain highly resistive. As shown inFIG. 1.5b, an impurity doping is performed, for example by diffusion orion implantation, producing doped regions 15a and 15b, and leaving aresistor 13r beneath mask 14p. Because the doped impurity diffuses uponsubsequent heating, the highly doped regions 15a and 15b extend beneathmask 14p. In order to retain a sufficiently high resistance of resistor13r (FIG. 1.5b) the final length of resistor 13r between the twoconductive regions 15a and 15b is normally about 1.0 to 1.2 microns.Because the lateral diffusion extends approximately 1.0 to 1.25 micronsbeneath each edge of mask 14p, the length of protective region 14p musttypically be 3.0 to 3.5 microns.

Space allocation for protective region 14p is less if the materials useddo not require an implant with resulting lateral diffusion. In such acase, protective region 14p may be as short as 1.0 to 1.2 microns.

As shown in FIGS. 1.6a and 1.6b, an oxide layer 16 has been applied andpatterned to open vias 16a and 16b, exposing contact points in regions15a and 15b. Finally, as shown in FIGS. 1.7a and 1.7b, conductive layer17, often aluminum, but also feasibly polycrystalline silicon or arefractory silicide such as PtSi, WSi₂, TiSi, TaSi₂, or MoSi₂, isapplied to the surface of the structure and patterned to leaveconductive lines 17a and 17b.

In addition to the 1.0 to 1.2 micron spacing for the resistor mask, anadditional allowance of some 0.5 micron at each end must be allowed formisalignment of contact openings 16a and 16b with respect to resistor13r.

Allowing a minimum size of 1.2 microns for each of the contact openings16a and 16b, 1.0 to 1.2 microns for the resistor 13r (necessary toassure a desired resistance of several hundred gigaohms to severalteraohms), and 0.5 micron at each end for misalignment, the total lengthof the prior art structure of FIGS. 1.1a through 1.7b remains about ,4.4-4.6 microns.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention achieves a further and significant decrease insize of the overall structure of an integrated circuit resistor.According to the present invention, very little surface area must beallocated for forming contacts to the resistor because resistor contactis made at two side surfaces of the resistor. Furthermore the step ofexposing the contact points of the resistor occurs simultaneously withshaping the resistor itself, thereby simplifying the process. Also nospace must be allocated for lateral diffusion of an implanted regionbeneath a protective mask because according to the present invention,there is no impurity doping.

According to the present invention, a resistive layer, preferablyundoped polycrystalline silicon,.is formed on an insulating layer, andpatterned into a region having the width of the to-be-formed resistor.An insulation layer, preferably silicon dioxide, is applied to thestructure, covering the resistive region. A layer of photoresist isformed and patterned above this insulating layer. The photoresist isthen patterned to leave a protected region, which can be as short as theresolution capability of the user's exposure equipment. State-of-the-artresolution is currently 1.2 microns. The insulating and resistivematerial not protected by photoresist is then removed. The protectivephotoresist is then removed, leaving a resistor covered on its top andsides by the insulating material and exposed on two ends. These exposedends will serve as contacts A conductive layer applied to the exposedstructure makes contact with the exposed ends of the resistive material.Patterning separates parts of the conductive layer contacting one end ofthe resistive material from parts of the conductive layer contacting theother end of the resistive material, thus forming a resistorconsiderably smaller than the prior art resistors discussed above. Incomparison to the prior art example having a resistor length of 1.2microns and a misalignment tolerance of 0.5 microns on each side andwhich required a linear space allocation of 4.4 to 4.6 microns, thelinear space allocated for forming one resistor according to the presentinvention can be 2.0 microns.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1.1a through 1.7a show top views of successive steps in forming aprior art resistor.

FIGS. 1.1b through 1.7b show cross sectional side views of successivesteps in forming the prior art resistor of FIGS. 1.1a through 1.7a.

FIGS. 2.1a through 2.8a show top views of successive steps in forming aresistor of the present invention.

FIGS. 2.1b through 2.8b show cross sectional side views of successivesteps in forming a resistor of the present invention.

FIG. 3, shows, a typical memory cell circuit having resistors which canbe formed using either the prior art method and structure or that of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 shows a prior art resistor divider network.

FIG. 5 shows a resistor divider network formed according to the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Formation of the structure of the present invention begins as in theprior art structure, with a layer 12 of structural elements as discussedabove in connection with FIGS. 1.1a and 1.1b. As shown in FIGS. 2.1a and2.1b, a layer of highly resistive material, preferably undopedpolycrystalline silicon 23 having a thickness of several hundred toseveral thousand angstroms and a resistivity on the order of severalhundred megaohms to several teraohms per square is formed on layer 12.

As shown in FIGS. 2.2a and 2.2b, layer 23 is patterned into resistivestructure 23p, to establish the width w of the intended resistor and alength 1 greater than the intended resistor. An insulating layer 14,preferably silicon dioxide 1000-5000 angstroms thick, is formed on theexposed surface of the structure, contacting resistive structure 23p andexposed portions of layer 12.

As shown in FIGS. 2.4a and 2.4b, photoresist layer 25 . is applied tounpatterned insulating layer 14. As shown in FIGS. 2.5a and 2.5b,photoresist layer 25 is then patterned to leave a protected region 25pabove resistive region 23p protecting a final resistor length preferablyof some 1.2 microns. Photoresist protective region 25p is patterned tohave a width dimension greater than the width of resistive region 23p.Moderate misalignment of the pattern of photoresist protective region25p will not have an adverse effect on the size of the final resistorstructure, which will be determined by the intersection of the twopatterns 3p and 25p.

As shown in FIGS. 2.6a and 2.6b, photoresist protective region 25pserves as a mask for etching insulating layer 14 and resistive region23p to form a structure comprising resistor 23r and insulating structure14p. Although the surfaces 23a and 23b exposed by etching are shown tobe vertical, it is preferred that the surfaces have a less than verticalslope in order to improve the joint between surfaces 23a and 23b and thecontact to be formed. Providing a less steep slope increases the lineardistance occupied by the resistor, therefore it is preferred that theslope be fairly steep.

As shown in FIGS. 2.7a and 2.7b, photoresist protective region 25p isthen removed.

As shown in FIGS. 2.8a and 2.8b, a metallization layer is applied andpatterned to form metallization regions 27a and 27b. Metallizationregion 27a contacts resistor 23r at end 23a and metallization region 27bcontacts resistor 23r at end 23b. The areas of contact regions 23a and23b are on the order of 0.1 to 0.5 square microns, much smaller than theapproximately 1.1 square micron area of the prior art contact regionsdiscussed in connection with FIGS. 1.1a to 1.7b. Thus the contact itselfmay add resistance to the resistor However, since the function of theelement is to be a resistor, an added resistance at the contact area isacceptable.

Size comparisons between the prior art and the current invention havebeen made using the same design rules, in particular the same opticalresolution limits and the same alignment tolerances. For other designrules, other sizes will of course occur. The sizes used in thisdescription are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.

The above described resistor structure and method for making can also beadvantageously used for forming more than one adjacent resistor, notablya resistor divider in which two adjacent resistors are formed with acontact between them. FIGS. 4 and 5 show top views of, respectively, aprior art resistor divider and a resistor divider of the currentinvention, drawn to the same scale as FIGS. 1.7a and 2.8a. Spacingbetween contact openings 46a and 46b or 46b and 46c of FIG. 4 is thesame as spacing between contact openings 16a and 16b of FIG. 1.6a.Therefore spacing between contact lines 47a and 47b or between contactlines 47b and 47c is the same as in FIG. 1.7a. By contrast, in thecurrent invention, as shown in FIG. 5, no contact openings exist,contact being made to vertical or near vertical surfaces. Spacingbetween contact lines 57a and 57b or between lines 57b and 57c is thesame as spacing between lines 27a and 27b of FIG. 2.8a.

Using the same design rules discussed earlier, total length of the priorart resistor divider of FIG. 4 is 8.6 microns while total length of theresistor divider of FIG. 5 is 5.1 microns. Thus the advantage of thepresent invention is again evident. Many variations on the abovedescribed resistor structure will become obvious to those skilled in theart in light of the above description. These variations are intended tofall within the scope of the present invention.

I claim:
 1. A resistor for use in an integrated circuit in whichresistive material is formed on an insulating layer which is above asemiconductor substrate, said resistive material being patterned into aresistor having a laterally extending top surface, a laterally extendingbottom surface contacting said insulating layer, two opposing upwardlyextending side surfaces, and between said side surfaces two upwardlyextending end surfaces, said top surface being completely covered byinsulating material, and in which conductive contacts to said resistorare made against said upwardly extending end surfaces.
 2. A resistor asin claim 1 in which said side surfaces are covered by an insulatingmaterial.
 3. A resistor as in claim 2 in which said conductive contactsare separated from said top and side surfaces of said resistor by saidinsulating material.
 4. A resistor as in claim 1 in which said upwardlyextending end surfaces are approximately vertical.
 5. A resistor as inclaim 1 in which said upwardly extending end surfaces are at an angledetermined by crystalline structure of said resistive material.